Complete Mastery

"Let's do this!" Feng Wu directly used the massive amount of newly appeared Dou Qi Peach Blossom Fire within his dantian to suppress it with brute force!

Since taking control of it voluntarily didn't work, then he would crush it with sheer strength!

More violent? Let's see who was more violent!

Enduring the scorching pain, all his Soul Power transformed into invisible whips that lashed at the Peach Blossom Fire!

What Feng Wu considered now was that he would rather give up this Peach Blossom Fire seed and destroy it outright than let it continue wreaking havoc inside his dantian!

Easy to control? Easy to tame? What a load of crap!

Either it died, or it submitted!

Large masses of Peach Blossom Fire were suppressed by Feng Wu's Dou Qi with a root-cutting method, then lashed apart and extinguished by his Soul Power!

His dantian was Feng Wu's home ground, after all. And unlike an Exotic Flame seed, which contained most of a flame's essence, the Peach Blossom Fire was merely a tiny, undying remnant flame from the Kui Wood Beast.

With the resolve to destroy it completely if necessary, Feng Wu ruthlessly struck. Before long, the Peach Blossom Fire was steadily retreating!

The area it occupied within his dantian kept shrinking, while the flames around its edges were constantly severed and cut away!

The remaining flames suddenly contracted into a tightly clustered ball, ultimately merging into a pink fire beast!

It had taken the form of the Kui Wood Beast!

"So you've finally revealed your true form? Hmph, you refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!" Even the Qi Calming Pill could not suppress Feng Wu's fury. His violent Dou Qi and Soul Power surged toward the Peach Blossom Fire as if they cost nothing!

Dou Qi was mainly used for suppression. It did relatively little damage and would be met by the Peach Blossom Fire reigniting again and again, but Feng Wu's Soul Power was the Peach Blossom Fire's nemesis!

Every lash struck true!

The Peach Blossom Fire seed was a remnant flame. The main reason it could endure for so long was because it still contained a wisp of the Kui Wood Beast's remnant soul. That was also why it could take the form of a fire beast resembling the Kui Wood Beast itself!

Thus, Feng Wu's Soul Power was the nemesis that inflicted the greatest harm upon the Peach Blossom Fire seed!

Although every time the Peach Blossom Fire scattered, strands of Feng Wu's Soul Power were worn away as well—injuring the enemy by a thousand while suffering eight hundred himself—

Feng Wu refused to believe that this mere wisp of a remnant soul could be stronger than all of his Soul Power!

Screw it!

The Kui Wood Beast formed from Peach Blossom Fire was lashed smaller and smaller.

Just as Feng Wu himself was becoming dizzy from the lashing and nearly unable to endure any longer, a weak wail finally rang out from within his dantian. The beast lowered its flaming head!

"You bastard! You won't behave without a beating. You only respond to force, not kindness. Hmph!" Feng Wu suppressed his rising fury and began controlling the Peach Blossom Fire!

He fully circulated the Volcano Skill. Under Feng Wu's control, the image of a Volcanic Crater formed inside his dantian, shrinking down from a vast size and firmly locking the Kui Wood Beast's fiery shadow within its mouth!

Though the trapped Kui Wood Beast still tried to turn against him and resist, a faintly explosive aura came from the phantom Volcanic Crater under Feng Wu's control. Intimidated, the Peach Blossom Fire seed had no choice but to quiet down.

That was the explosive power Feng Wu had accumulated after cultivating the Volcano Skill for nearly a month! It was the source of the technique's inherent bursting force, something Feng Wu could detonate at any time!

Now that the Kui Wood Beast's Peach Blossom Fire had lowered its head and entered the trap, it could forget about escaping again!

The Peach Blossom Fire seed had no choice but to submit. Taking advantage of the moment, Feng Wu branded his Soul Power into the Kui Wood Beast's remnant soul within the Peach Blossom Fire, like a contract.

At this point, with Feng Wu's soul mark imprinted upon it, the Peach Blossom Fire seed had been successfully fused!

However, as Feng Wu observed the utterly listless Peach Blossom Ember within the phantom Volcanic Crater in his dantian, he did not put down his butcher's knife!

Under the control of his soul mark, Feng Wu completely erased the defenseless Kui Wood Beast's remnant soul, replacing the core sustaining the Peach Blossom Fire with a strand of his own soul!

Power was best when it was completely under his own control!

Even a wisp of remnant soul that could not resist and was already under his control had no business interfering.

Especially after it had tricked him so badly!

After slowly circulating his Dou Qi through this final cycle, Feng Wu gradually opened his eyes. Pink flames rose within his pupils, making them look like two Peach Blossom Beauty Pupils.

He opened his left hand and lightly expelled his Dou Qi. Within the Volcanic Crater in his dantian, the Peach Blossom Fire burned brighter and larger with Dou Qi as fuel, then traveled through his meridians all the way to his open left palm.

With a soft poof, pink peach blossom-shaped flames danced and burned in Feng Wu's palm. But this time, they did not harm him in the slightest!

Instead, under Feng Wu's control, they shifted into the form of a long snake one moment and a coiling dragon the next, moving as easily as his own arm.

"This counts as success." Feng Wu controlled the flames, making them weave softly between his fingers, and assessed, "After I erased the Kui Wood Beast's remnant soul, its power dropped a little further. It is probably weaker than some Fourth Order beast flames now.

"However, after replacing the Kui Wood Beast's remnant soul with my own Soul Power as its control core, its controllability has risen to another level. It is much more responsive.

"The power is weaker, but it is easier to control. Gains and losses balance out. Not bad!"

Feng Wu dispersed the flames in his hand. He was quite satisfied with the Peach Blossom Fire's performance.

Three days later, Feng Wu stepped out of his courtyard for the first time since returning home.

Although the Peach Blossom Fire fusion had succeeded, it had also heavily damaged Feng Wu's body. Only after taking Second Grade Blood Coagulation Powder and sleeping for long periods had he recovered seventy to eighty percent of his internal injuries and depleted Soul Power.

If not for the fact that every additional day of rest meant losing dozens of experience points, Feng Wu's injuries would have kept an ordinary person bedridden for at least a week.

This time, Feng Wu was taking Little Er Ha out and did not plan to return anytime soon. At the very least, he did not intend to come back before the clan's next strength test more than four months later.

Wu Tan City could no longer offer Feng Wu much improvement.

The wilderness was where Feng Wu's cultivation truly belonged.

Taking Little Er Ha with him, Feng Wu went out to sell off his possessions. Fighting back tears, he sold all twenty-plus Magic Crystals he had, including the ones embedded in the Infinite Gauntlet, in exchange for more than ten thousand Gold Coins.

Adding the little he had left on hand, he barely scraped together over twenty thousand Gold Coins and swept up a huge quantity of medicinal ingredients from the market.

These were indispensable. Feng Wu could not possibly rely solely on gathering herbs himself to sustain the consumption of his alchemy while cultivating.

He still had some medicinal ingredients left from his previous purchase, but they were no longer enough to support Feng Wu's alchemy consumption.

Leading Little Er Ha out of the city, Feng Wu watched as Little Er Ha unleashed its nature and bounded about joyfully.

They continued onward for nearly two days without stopping. At last, Feng Wu brought Little Er Ha to the entrance of the Magical Beast Mountain Range near Wu Tan City.

Feng Wu's cultivation over the next several months would all take place here.

After the experience gained from livestock, wild animals, and even ordinary unranked beasts at the Fierce Beast level had been reduced, only a place like the Magical Beast Mountain Range could provide enough—perhaps even vast numbers of—Magical Beasts for Feng Wu and Little Er Ha to cultivate with...

(Note: In the original work, the place where Xiao Yan entered the Magical Beast Mountain Range was not an entrance near Wu Tan City.

He took a five-day detour through Green Mountain Town in order to cross the Magical Beast Mountain Range from afar, all the way to the Tagor Desert.

The original work clearly stated that there was a shortcut entrance into the Magical Beast Mountain Range near Wu Tan City.

I used the closest location here.)